Refresher on Who I am
Chris Lee (Harvard ’13, Applied Math/CS) has had a career in product engineering through venture/startups.
Applied Science & Research Background
In high school, he spent three summers at Caltech—first in Melanie Hunt’s lab (she later became Vice Provost), where she introduced students to the phenomenon of “singing” sand dunes in the Mojave Desert. He later worked in Sossina Haile’s lab under the mentorship of Will Chueh, who continues to pioneer breakthroughs in energy research.
At Harvard, Chris published under Hanspeter Pfister (HCI) and served as a teaching assistant in his courses. Like many, he eventually drifted from academia into startups, co-founding Hack Harvard. He sold his first startup to the family office of Joseph Taussig III (Naval Academy, HBS).
AI/ML systems in real-world contexts
Though he had done some AI coursework in college, he has since been self taught through participation in ML Collective and conferences. During his sabbatical, he was exploring physical-world AI applications at South Park Commons and built LLM-powered workflows in applied sciences at Menlo Ventures.
Chris Lee - Personal Story
Relevant Tech Experience
8 yrs product experience, $55m backed by A*, Founders Fund, Keith Rabois on his board
1x exited founder, sold startup, self-driving car insurance
Software engineer at Nest / KP Eng Fellow
Personal Story
Grew up in LA / Pasadena, did 3 years research at Caltech as high school student
CS/Applied Math at Harvard; Grad courses in Climate Physics, Botany, Marine Biology out of curiosity
Participated Harvard SEAS & US Army Corps of Engineers Study on Extreme Events & Water Management
Third Annual Naval Academy Science and Engineering Conference (NASEC), published in IEEE
Volunteering / Fun Facts
I helped my grandma move back in after wildfires; volunteered serving food in Altadena
Part of high school solar car team that competed nationally at Texas Motor Speedway